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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25321279">Séance and the Outlaws</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naphorism/pseuds/Naphorism'>Naphorism</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive Reginald Hargreeves, Alcohol, Asphyxiation, BAMF Klaus Hargreeves, Blood and Injury, Body Horror, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, But also, Crossover, Crossovers &amp; Fandom Fusions, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Drug Withdrawal, During Canon, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Ghost Jason Todd, Ghosts, Guns, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is Robin, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves' Canon Asphyxiation Kink, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Klaus just finds them scary and finds that hot, Klaus thinks, Major Character Injury, Mentioned Bruce Wayne, Mentioned Reginald Hargreeves, Mild Gore, Murder, Murder Mystery, Past Character Death, Permanent Injury, Pre-Canon, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Roy Harper, Reginald Hargreeves Bashing, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Spirits, Suicide mention, Withdrawal, a bit - Freeform, cos ghosts don't heal, for rhato, for tua, in comparison to hargreeves at least, mentioned - Freeform, not a very high bar, one-sided Klaus Hargreeves/Jason Todd, one-sided Klaus Hargreeves/Koriand'r, roy is sober and we love that for him, these don't really fit under relationships so, those are Klaus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:27:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25321279</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naphorism/pseuds/Naphorism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with Klaus trying to score something; anything at all.<br/>It ends with a fresh murder scene and some dude who's completely surrounded by howling spirits.<br/>When people who are alive start having ghosts, it's a terrible time to be sober.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Hargreeves &amp; Jason Todd, Ben Hargreeves &amp; Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves &amp; Jason Todd, Klaus Hargreeves &amp; Koriand'r, Klaus Hargreeves &amp; Roy Harper, Koriand'r &amp; Jason Todd, Roy Harper &amp; Jason Todd, Roy Harper &amp; Koriand'r &amp; Jason Todd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>380</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Séance and the Outlaws</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I was explaining the outlaws to my friend who isn't into DC, and she went, "Jason Todd collects disgraced superheroes? Where's Klaus Hargreeves at," and I couldn't leave that unwritten.</p><p>me @myself: Are you writing 6+ pages of Klaus calling Jason big Jason, ghost Jason, and baby Jay?<br/>me: ... Yeah.<br/>me @myself: Okay, carry on.</p><p>So, enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Klaus lets out a noise that’s some combination of a bloodcurdling scream and an exhausted groan. “No. No! No way,” he mutters to himself, stumbling away from the congregation of people and spirits in the alley until his back hits a brick wall.</p><p>“Sir, I assure you there is nothing to worry about,” a tall woman with unearthly green eyes tells Klaus, but he barely hears her over the roar of the spirits. “This man was a human trafficker, if you are concerned about ethics. But it would be in your best interests to turn around, walk away, and forget you saw anything at all.”</p><p>Clamping his hands over his ears, Klaus screws his eyes shut and sinks to his knees. He can feel himself shaking. He just wants to find someone to buy something from, is that too much to ask? One of his plugs hangs out in this alley sometimes. But no, of course there has to be a fresh murder scene and some dude who’s <em>surrounded</em> by spirits. What a terrible time to be sober.</p><p>There’s a deep intake of breath, and someone’s saying, “I think he’s in withdrawal. Hey, man, you doing okay?”</p><p>Coughing out a shrill laugh, Klaus says, “Oh, I’m just magnifique. Wunderbar, even. I’m gonna try to,” he stands up on wobbly legs, breathing hard and trying to ignore the screaming, “leave you friendly folks alone now.”</p><p>“The guy in the leather jacket is a murderer,” Ben accuses. “Look how many spirits there are.”</p><p>“<em>Shut up</em>,” Klaus hisses. “I can see them, danke schön. And <em>you’re</em> hardly in a place to accuse anyone of murder. Look at the domino masks. Vigilante and let vigilante! What would our precious Padre say about you condemning the life of righteous murder?”</p><p>Ben looks sort of guilty, and Klaus doesn't feel the slightest bit bad. The only thing he can think of is getting away. There’s screaming and crying and yelling and he just needs it to <em>stop</em>.</p><p>“Who is he speaking to?” asks the woman with the scary eyes.</p><p>“M’brother,” Klaus explains in a slur.</p><p>The three living people at the end of the alley exchange looks. Klaus can tell that they think he’s completely out of his mind. It is definitely time to beat a hasty retreat.</p><p>“Klaus,” Ben whispers in a sad voice just as Klaus turns to leave. “Look.” He’s pointing at something just behind leather jacket guy.</p><p>Klaus looks back over his shoulder and squints. When he finally sees what Ben’s pointing at, he lets out a gasp. There’s a young spirit cowering behind the man in the leather jacket, clutching his yellow cape around himself like a shock blanket. One of his eyes is swollen shut, and his face is covered in abrasions. None of that is particularly notable considering that leather jacket guy is surrounded by ghosts who are all fairly roughed up. The familiar costume he’s wearing, torn to near shreds, is what makes Klaus doubt his sanity. “Robin?”</p><p>Leather jacket guy goes tense. “<em>What</em>. Did you just say.”</p><p>The kid nods slowly, his neck making ominous cracking noises. “I’m Jason,” he croaks. “How can you see me?”</p><p>“Hello, Jason,” Klaus coos, doing his best to ignore the other spirits. “Why are you dead?”</p><p>Next thing Klaus knows, leather jacket guy has slammed him against a wall and is holding a gun to his head. “Talk, fuckhead. Who the hell are you, and where are you getting all this shit from?”</p><p>“Wow, you’re <em>big</em>,” Klaus comments, reaching up to boop the guy on the nose. His eyes slide back to Robin. “You know who this big guy is, cocotte?”</p><p>“Me,” Jason says simply, fiddling with the ragged edges of his cape.</p><p>Klaus looks at big Jason’s face carefully and sees a scar through his lip that matches an open gash on ghost Jason’s face. Big Jason’s eyes aren’t visible through his red domino mask, so even though ghost Jason’s domino mask lenses are broken enough to expose blue-green eyes, Klaus can’t tell if they match. Their hair colour matches, though. Big Jason’s nose and jawline look like they could feasibly be what the ghost’s face would grow into given the chance.</p><p>“Oh, you got hot! Wild,” Klaus exclaims finally. He turns back to ghost Jason. “Good for you.”</p><p>Ghost Jason smirks despite his swollen face.</p><p>Big Jason growls. This does nothing to disabuse Klaus of the notion that he is hot.</p><p>“We’re gonna ignore the fact that this isn’t possible in favour of freaking out because this scary hot man thinks I know his secret identity!” Klaus screams, but quietly. He’s not really interested in random passerby trying to interfere. After a few seconds he explains, “I actually do know your secret identity. Whoopsie-daisy? You just told me.”</p><p>“Who. Are you,” big Jason demands, wrapping his free hand around Klaus’ neck.</p><p>“You should probably take a step back if you’re gonna keep doing that,” Klaus suggests, humming appreciatively. “I’m weird, and I wouldn’t wanna make a big, tough, scary man such as yourself <em>uncomfortable</em>. Especially one as handsome as you.”</p><p>One of big Jason’s friends snorts. “He’s warning you to get your lower body away from him if you’re gonna go for asphyxiation, Hood.”</p><p>Big Jason releases Klaus’ neck and takes a step back, keeping his gun aimed squarely at Klaus’ head and narrowing his eyes. Other people might not have been able to tell, but Klaus is intimately familiar with reading facial expressions through domino masks.</p><p>Klaus waves his <em>HELLO</em> hand at big Jason. “Hola! I’m Klaus.” After a beat, he adds, “Séance. I rarely live up to that name though, so. Klaus. I know yours, you know mine. We’re square.”</p><p>“Séance,” big Jason echoes, deadpan and unimpressed. “Am I meant to recognise that?”</p><p>“Uh, <em>yeah</em>,” big Jason’s friend says. “What is it with you Gotham vigilantes and refusing to learn anything about the rest of the hero community? You’ve seriously never heard of the Umbrella Academy before?”</p><p>“Sure.” Big Jason shrugs. “Kids trained from childhood to be superheroes by their shitty adoptive dad. Basically a regular Tuesday night by my family’s standards, Arsenal.”</p><p>“You don’t know shit about a regular Tuesday night,” Klaus seethes, poking one bony finger into big Jason’s broad chest. It's been a long day; being pushed around has suddenly stopped being fun, and Klaus is ready for some good old fashioned verbal sparring. It's probably the only kind of fight he has a chance of winning against big Jason. “Would your adoptive father—”</p><p>“Bruce,” ghost Jason supplies.</p><p>“Would <em>Bruce</em> lock you in a mausoleum to try to make you stop being scared of ghosts? Throw you in a fish tank to see how long you can last without breathing? Have you tell people to commit suicide to see how commanding your voice can be? Force you to commit <em>mass murder</em> on live TV? I’d spend all my nonexistent money betting your father never had you hold a couch above your head for twelve hours straight!”</p><p>Big Jason glares at Klaus. “At least you made it out <em>alive</em>.”</p><p>“Ha!” Klaus exclaims, pressing his forehead into the barrel of Jason’s gun. “He adopted seven of us. There are five left. You thought I was out of my mind when I said I was talking to my brother?”</p><p>“Yes,” the tall woman admits. “Though the codename <em>Séance </em>seems to suggest that you can commune with the dead, so I see our mistake.”</p><p>“He can,” Arsenal confirms.</p><p>“It straight up sucks,” Klaus mumbles, leaning against the cold brick wall behind him. He's suddenly hyperaware of all the supernatural bitching and moaning going on around big Jason. Most of the spirits aren't nearly as calm as baby Jay is, despite all being much older and <em>much</em> less gory. Klaus would sell his thumbs for a goddamn Benadryl at this point. “You try staying sober when dead people are constantly shouting at you and the only thing that’ll <em>shut them up</em> is getting out of your mind. And even when you’re high, your dead brother hangs around and yells about your poor life choices.”</p><p>“I don’t <em>yell</em>,” Ben insists.</p><p>“It feels like it!” Klaus whines. “I’m sensitive, Ben.”</p><p>“Are you talking to <em>Horror</em>? Horror is right here, right now?” Arsenal asks incredulously. “Is he safe? I mean, I know he’s dead. But are his powers stable?”</p><p>Ben looks hurt.</p><p>“Ghosts can’t touch anything. And Ben looks hurt,” Klaus informs Arsenal. “Apologise.”</p><p>“<em>Okay</em>,” Arsenal drawls, looking confused. “I’m sorry, Ben.”</p><p>“Tell him I forgive him,” Ben says, peering at Arsenal curiously. “And also that he’s the first reasonable person I’ve been able to interact with since I died.”</p><p>“First— hey! He forgives you, and is now insulting me. Apparently,” Klaus rolls his eyes, “you’re the first reasonable person he’s talked to since he died. And <em>this</em> is the asshole I get to have around twenty-four/seven.”</p><p>“You have your little brother following you around at all times?” big Jason asks with a frown. “I would lose my goddamn mind.”</p><p>Klaus says, “Yeah,” just as Ben says, “No!”</p><p>“I’m the only one who can hear you, mi hermano. I’m two numbers older than you, so,” Klaus sticks his tongue out at Ben with relish.</p><p>The lady with the scary eyes looks on in confusion.</p><p>“All of them were born on the same day,” Arsenal explains. “Their adoptive father assigned them numbers. Horror was Number Six. Séance was… Number Four?”</p><p>“Ew.” Klaus scrunches up his face. “Only my dad and oldest brother call me that. Well, and all my legal documentation. But it makes me feel like an object, so I’m not big on it.”</p><p>“Hold up.” Big Jason raises his arms, and Klaus eyes his gun hand warily. “You’re saying your actual ID cards and shit say <em>Number Four</em> on them?”</p><p>“Four Hargreeves, actually,” Klaus corrects. “But yeah. Birth certificate et al.”</p><p>Big Jason cringes and re-holsters his gun. “Fuck, man. Bruce <em>is</em> actually starting to look like he might be dad of the year in comparison to yours.”</p><p>Klaus does a little curtsey.</p><p>“I like Bruce,” ghost Jason mumbles. “Bruce is a real good dad. Where’s Bruce? He’s coming for me. I… I made it to the door, to wait for him.”</p><p>“Honey,” Klaus says slowly, clearly not looking at any living persons present. He hates spirits who get confused like this. The ones who understand what’s going on around them and know about everything that happened to them but can’t quite put it into context are the worst. They can know they’re dead one second, then start thinking they’re back in the moment they died the next. “You know you’re dead, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” ghost Jason agrees sadly, at the same instant as big Jason exclaims, “<em>Excuse</em> me?”</p><p>“Can you…” Klaus nudges big Jason away from himself then crouches down by ghost Jason, who’s collapsed to the ground with his knees pulled to his chest. He glances at big Jason to say, “Thanks for moving,” before looking back at ghost Jason. As far as ghosts go he’s not the most morbid Klaus has seen, but he looks rough. At some point between his knees giving out and his ass hitting the ground, handcuffs appeared around his wrists. “What happened?”</p><p>Ghost Jason flinches. “Torture.”</p><p>“Yikes,” Klaus says with feeling. He got captured a few times on missions as a kid, so he can sympathise. “Not waterboarding, by the looks of you. No bruises from choking, either. Jumper cables? Nah. Your hair’s way too fluffy for electrocution.” He pretends to ruffle ghost Jason’s hair, and the kid almost smiles. “Blunt force trauma, huh?”</p><p>Nodding, ghost Jason croaks, “Crowbar. For a very long time. Over. And over. Some general purpose getting tossed around, too. Y’ever had your face ground into cement?”</p><p>“Yup,” Klaus responds. “I was a kid superhero too, y’know. We all got beat to shit sometimes.”</p><p>Ghost Jason laughs at that.</p><p>“Sorry, Séance,” Arsenal interrupts, “who are you talking to?”</p><p>“You said you have two dead siblings, correct? Is this the other one?” scary lady asks. She turns back to Arsenal. “He is talking about childhood superhero experiences. I must admit I sympathise. We really did all get <em>beat to shit</em> sometimes.”</p><p>“Hell yes we did, scary lady!” Klaus exclaims holding out a hand for a fist bump. When the scary lady reciprocates, his eyes widen. “Holy shit, I could <em>feel</em> the withheld strength in that bump. You scare me so much, you have no idea how hot that is.”</p><p>Scary lady laughs. “I’m Starfire. But thank you, Séance. I find your outfit fashionable.”</p><p>“This is the greatest day of my life,” Klaus announces.</p><p>“Hot,” ghost Jason mumbles, throwing his bound hands in front of his face. Burns start to form on his palms and cheeks from phantom heat.</p><p>Klaus retches, then tries not to feel humiliated about it. “Yeah, pretty hot, buddy. What…” He averts his eyes. “What’s happening to you?”</p><p>Shrapnel appears in ghost Jason’s shoulder, and his handcuffs collapse away from his wrists as though from an impact strong enough to break them. “Ticking. Countdown.” He starts wheezing and hacking.</p><p>“Time bomb,” Klaus breathes, eyes wide. “You died of smoke inhalation from a time bomb after being beaten with a crowbar.”</p><p>Big Jason takes a pained breath in. “What of it?”</p><p>Slowly, Klaus turns to look at big Jason. “You actually died like that? But… I don’t understand this! People who are alive don’t have ghosts.”</p><p>Ben starts putting pressure on some of ghost Jason’s wounds, which seems to make ghost Jason a bit happier. “I know I’m not dying anymore,” he admits, “but they still feel like injuries do when you’re in life-threatening condition. Like they need to be taken care of.”</p><p>Standing up and dusting his knees off, Klaus says, “Ben is putting pressure on your wounds, and you said it makes you feel better,” to big Jason.</p><p>“What.” Big Jason glares at Klaus. He has no idea what kind of response is actually reasonable in this situation, but glaring is no less reasonable than anything else he can think of.</p><p>“Basically,” Klaus claps his hands together theatrically, “you’re constantly followed around by a huge horde of corpses. Yay!” He does jazz hands at big Jason. “It works like that when you’ve killed people.” At big Jason’s deepening scowl, Klaus hastily adds, “It’s totally normal! I have a few, Ben has <em>fucktons</em>. Way more than you do.”</p><p>“<em>You’ve</em> killed people,” big Jason says incredulously.</p><p>“Uh, <em>yeah</em>. You know how I was raised. First few missions I used lethal moves, because that’s what I’d been taught. Kids are idiots. Then I realised they’d follow me, so I stopped. Well,” Klaus makes a face at a few ghosts who are now tutting at him. “I stopped as much as I could.”</p><p>“I think I may dislike Séance’s father even more than I dislike your father, Hood.” Starfire cracks her knuckles, terrifying eyes glaring into space. “Children should not be made to kill when they do not understand the consequences, and have never been taught anything else.”</p><p>“If you kill him, can I watch?” Klaus asks eagerly.</p><p>Starfire smiles slightly and nods.</p><p>Ben laughs, then tries to hide it and force his face into a frown. “Murder isn’t funny, Klaus. You shouldn’t joke about that kind of thing.”</p><p>“Mais non. Not usually. I hate death more than anyone else in the world! But when it’s that massive prick?” Klaus grins. “It’s definitely funny.”</p><p>“What were you saying about corpse hordes before?” Arsenal asks.</p><p>“Oh.” Klaus cringes. “Yeah. You aren’t real fun for me to be around, big Jason, I’ll tell you that much. But your ghost posse is a little étrange, étranger. More so than most. Because <em>you</em>, dear friend, have your own ghost tailing you.”</p><p>“My own ghost,” Jason repeats hollowly. “That’s unusual?”</p><p>“Unusual?” Klaus laughs somewhat hysterically. “Scheiße, man! I’ve literally never seen it before, and it’s wigging me out a little bit.”</p><p>Arsenal throws a protective arm around big Jason’s shoulders with some difficulty due to the fact that big Jason is taller than he is. “Most people haven’t been fucking murdered then brought back to life in their own coffin, dude.”</p><p>“Christ on a cracker,” Klaus hisses. “I hate being stuck in coffins.”</p><p>“Hanging out in coffins something you do for fun?” big Jason asks, looking at Klaus’ all-black ensemble critically.</p><p>“Dear old Dad wasn’t very happy that I was scared of the dead. Kinda inconvenient when I was meant to be the one who talked to murder victims and all that. But the dead… they come to me like they died.” Klaus shudders and glances at ghost Jason. “Your ghost is all bloody, and his neck makes weird noises when he moves. He manifested his own burns and shrapnel wounds a few minutes ago. The handcuffs come and go.”</p><p>“Sorry for freaking you out, man,” ghost Jason apologises.</p><p>Klaus waves it off. “You’re soft, baby Jay. I’ve seen so much worse, you probably wouldn’t believe. Some spirits are <em>so</em> gored up, c’est incroyable.”</p><p>“Jesus fuck,” big Jason exclaims. “You’ve been seeing this shit your whole life?”</p><p>“Since birth,” confirms Klaus, biting at one black thumbnail. “Our dear old dad <em>Reggie</em>,” he spits his adoptive father's name like it's poison, using a mocking approximation of Sir Reginald's English accent even though he knows only Ben will appreciate his intent, “used to lock me in mausoleums, sometimes coffins, to try and force me to get over my fear of the dead. So yeah. I’m pretty familiar with the hell that is trying to scratch your way out of a coffin.”</p><p>“I don’t wanna claw my way outta my own coffin,” ghost Jason mumbles. “I’d rather stay dead.”</p><p>Big Jason gasps. “Did you hear that?”</p><p>“What?” Starfire and Arsenal ask simultaneously.</p><p>Klaus hums, somewhat fascinated. “I’ve been sober too long. My powers get stronger with no buffer. I can channel, kinda. Not quite evocation, because they can’t touch anything, but their voices sometimes come through if I concentrate. I guess I’m focusing on your spirit pretty hard right now.”</p><p>Big Jason tilts his head against Arsenal’s with his eyes squeezed shut and mumbles, “It was me as a teenager. When I died. That was my voice, wasn’t it?”</p><p>Klaus nods, making plans to be less sober as soon as possible. Getting this close to channeling is a too far. He’s pretty sure there’s a liquor store close by. Maybe his new friends would like to get plastered after this evening of revelations? They probably need it. As long as they dispose of the cooling body at the end of the alley without Klaus having to get his hands dirty, he’d love to spend time with them. Big Jason and Starfire scare him in the best way, and Arsenal seems nice.</p><p>“What did you say?” Starfire asks, resting a hand on big Jason’s shoulder and her chin on the top of his head.</p><p>“I said,” big Jason grits out, “I’d rather stay dead.”</p><p>Starfire and Arsenal look shocked.</p><p>After a moment of silence Klaus exclaims, “And on that morbid note! Who wants to go get completely shitfaced?”</p><p>Four hands are in the air immediately.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! I love all responses, so throw me whatever you got.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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